The present invention relates to articles and methods for supplying conditioning benefits to fabrics in an automatic clothes washer and dryer. The articles comprise a receptacle releasably containing a fabric conditioning composition.
The home laundering operation can provide an opportunity to treat fabrics being laundered with a variety of materials which impart some desirable benefit or quality to the fabrics during laundering. At each stage of the laundering operation (presoaking, washing, rinsing, drying) fabrics are, to varying degrees, found in contact with water which can provide the medium for delivery of fabric conditioning agents.
Delivery of fabric conditioning agents to fabrics during the laundering operation is not, however, accomplished without certain difficulties. Surfactants are generally employed during the presoaking and washing steps for the purpose of removing materials (soil) from the fabrics. Simultaneous deposition onto fabrics of fabric conditioning agents can, therefore, prove troublesome. While some of these problems can be overcome by conditioning fabrics in the automatic dryer (see, for example, Gaiser; U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,692, issued May 6, 1969), it is nevertheless exceptionally difficult to achieve efficient deposition in the dryer of all fabric conditioning agents. For example, it is difficult for dryer added fabric softener/antistat compositions to match the softening performance of rinse added softeners.
Attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of conditioning agent fabric deposition during the laundering process. Some of the attempts are found in the prior art references listed subsequently herein. In spite of these developments, there is a continuing need for methods and compositions which are suitable for efficiently and effectively delivering conditioning agents to fabrics during the home laundering operation.
The present invention is based on the discovery that fabrics can receive excellent conditioning benefits from an article releasably containing a conditioning composition while being treated in an automatic clothes washer and dryer. Superior conditioning benefits are achieved while offering significant additional convenience.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide articles which can be added to a clothes washer to condition fabrics in a superior manner concurrently with a washer and dryer operation. The articles are constructed such that the fabric conditioning composition is not released until the rinse cycle of the clothes washer or during the drying cycle of a clothes dryer. This release pattern, for example, when the composition contains a fabric softener/antistat, provides for softness equivalent to a rinse added softener and static control equivalent to a dryer added fabric softener.
It is a further object herein to provide methods for conditioning fabrics during the home laundering process.
These and other objects will become obvious from the following disclosure.